deceit

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noun

The act or practice of deceiving: cunning, deceitfulness, deception, double-dealing, duplicity, guile, shiftiness. See honest/dishonest.

n

Definition: practice of misleading
Antonyms: frankness, honesty, openness, truth, truthfulness, uprightness

n

Definition: trick
Antonyms: fair dealing, honesty, sincerity

The intentional attempt to mislead people. It gives rise to questions of definition (separating it from such neighbours as exaggeration, irony, parody) and to questions of justification. Many moral traditions separate the deliberate lie from the equally deliberate failure to tell the whole truth, it being thought that the former, an act, is worse, other things being equal, than the latter (see acts/omissions doctrine). However, since each may involve the same end and the same strategy of manipulation of other people's opinion and action, the difference is difficult to defend in all cases. The absolutist position on lying is defended by Kant: it is an unconditional duty to tell the truth, come what may. Constant urged against him that we only have a duty to tell the truth to those who have a right to the truth. He and others urge that while in a perfect world there would be no lying, deceit may be justified when one is faced with the evil or the incompetent, or the need for self-defence in the face of injustice, or the need to promote sufficiently important goods. The difficulty is to defend a departure from the absolutist position that does not justify lying for the sake of mere expediency.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A misrepresentation made with the express intention of defrauding someone, which subsequently causes injury to that person.

In order for a statement to be deceit, it must be untrue, made with knowledge of its falsity, or made in reckless disregard of the truth. The misrepresentation must be such that it causes harm to another individual.

IN BRIEF: The act of lying or cheating.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. — George Orwell, British novelist.

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Quotes:

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." - Sir Walter Scott

"You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising budget is big enough." - Ed Rollins

"Deceive the rich and powerful if you will, but don't insult them." - Japanese Proverb

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln

"The easiest person to deceive is one's own self." - Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

For a list of words related to deceit, see:

• Fraud, Treachery, and Deception - deceit: act of deception; trick; state of falseness

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See words rhyming with "deceit."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Deceit.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - bedrageri, svindelnummer, bedrageriskhed

Nederlands (Dutch)
bedrog

Français (French)
n. - tromperie, supercherie, (Jur) fraude

Deutsch (German)
n. - Betrug

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απάτη, δόλος, καταδολίευση, εξαπάτηση, κοροϊδία, κατεργαριά

Italiano (Italian)
inganno

Português (Portuguese)
n. - engano (m), ilusão (f)

Русский (Russian)
обман

Español (Spanish)
n. - engaño, mentira, fraude, engañoso

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bedrägeri, svek

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
欺骗, 谎言

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 欺騙, 謊言

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 사기, 계략, 가짜, ~을 속여서 ~하게 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - だますこと, 詐欺, 偽り

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الخداع, الغش‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רמאות‬

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